A Cockfield man has avoided an immediate prison sentence after more than 1,300 indecent images of children were found at his home.

Jonathan Aldous, 47, appeared at Suffolk Magistrates' Court for sentence on Tuesday having previously pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children on May 27.

Magistrates heard how police received information about an IP address that was linked to Aldous' Google account.

Officers executed a warrant at his home on June 29, 2021, and various devices were seized, the court heard.

Following analysis of a Samsung mobile phone, 325 indecent images of the most serious kind - category A - were discovered, along with 53 videos of that grade.

A further 315 indecent images graded at category B were found, with 20 videos graded at that level, and 716 images and four videos which were classed as category C.

The court heard that Aldous, of Great Green, Cockfield, near Bury St Edmunds, had no previous convictions.

In police interview, Aldous told officers he had an addiction to porn and had sought counselling for his issues.

He admitted to being involved with chat rooms, with the usernames TradeYoung and F12 to attract those online who had a sexual interest in children, the court heard.

He accepted he had been solely responsible for the indecent images, and that he obtained sexual gratification from them, magistrates heard.

Lowri Marks, representing Aldous, said her client had sought help through counselling following his arrest, and had lost his job as a result of his guilty pleas.

She said Aldous was ashamed for what he had done, and had "dedicated himself to doing a great deal of work" to rehabilitate himself.

A pre-sentence report was prepared by the Probation Service following Aldous' guilty pleas and was provided to magistrates at his sentencing hearing.

Magistrates told Aldous the offence crossed the custody threshold but that they were prepared to suspend the sentence as there was a "realistic prospect of rehabilitation".

Aldous was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, with the Horizon sex offenders' programme and 160 hours of unpaid work.

He was also handed a five-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and must comply with registration requirements for seven years.